Hudson is perfectly fine crated at home, the problem arises when we are crating him away from home (visiting family or vacation). As long as he is crated within eye site of people (mainly me) he is OK, but the second he thinks he is being crated and we are leaving, he has a fit.

When we are home visiting, he'll whine and bark and scratch, but seems to settle eventually. Last time we were home, he was crated in the room we stay in with the door closed (my in-laws have 3 cats). My husband's grandma came over to check her fantasy baseball team. When we asked her if he was still barking, she said that he didn't make a peep and thought he was with us.

My biggest concern is vacation. We've only done 1 vacation with him, last summer, and I'm not sure he ever settled in his crate. He definitely never settled enough to chew on the crate treat we had given him.

This years vacation is coming up in mid-July, and I'm trying to get a game plan in around for it. I was thinking about trying something like Rescue Remedy, or something similar.

Merlin is usually an angel in his crate. Yet, much like Hudson...in strange new places when he's alone, he used to get anxious and want to be in eye sight range of people.

And since I travel SO MUCH and Merlin in some cases has to be alone in hotel rooms, I created kind of a crazy system. But it worked! Merlin is now really bombproof when it comes to traveling kind of crating situations.

Here is what I use supplement wise, listed from least effective (but still calming) to most effective

Our first night away of our first vacation away, we used Xanax. And then every night he got a composure (he was MUCH better after the first night) and they really like the yummy treat!

Things that have also helped:
- Having a crate cover and work on him sleeping with it "closed" at home. Now Merlin really doesn't care where his crate is or who's around because he's not used to seeing outside of it anyway, it has created a really safe space.
- White noise machine. Same noise=he has no idea we aren't home/isn't listening for every little thing
(I have this one as it's small and runs on batteries) http://www.amazon.com/myBaby-MYB-S20...+noise+machine
- Scented Spray of some sort. Same principle really...smells like home so we are home. I use this one (not sure about the calming qualities but it smells nice)http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Heart-Ca...+calming+spray

By far the most helpful have been the crate cover and white noise machine.
Composure treats are nice because they mean bedtime to him.

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Disclaimer: I work for Trupanion and love it/our policy! But I do not speak for the company or as the company.

Haha I had that calming spray and my fiance hated the smell! I have tried a few things and not really noticed a huge difference in my dogs, have calming tablets from Dr Foster/Smith (this is the only one I noticed had any effect) , had some weird paste, had a pheromone collar, an adaptil plug in, rescue remedy. I think effectiveness depends on the dog so you might want a test run.

Could you use a crate cover on three sides, and have the 4th side facing a boring wall and have the fan blowing? That's what we do with our dogs.

My only personal experience with calming aids is xanex. It does a very good job on helping to ease Chloe's anxiety (she becomes more responsive to behavior modification), but not all dogs react the same, so definitely try it before actually putting him in a stressful situation.

I've heard good things about Composure. A few clients from work would swear by it.

Could you use a crate cover on three sides, and have the 4th side facing a boring wall and have the fan blowing? That's what we do with our dogs.

I might be able to do that. I think the way we set the living room up during the summer has the crate facing out across the (narrow) living room and then out a doorway, but I might be able to shut that door. Just trying to remember if we get a lot of airflow through that doorway or not.